Does the bipartisan budget deal foretell a new Paul Ryan? If 2014 is to bring us a “new” and improved Congressman Ryan, this would entail significant changes in policy and philosophy. He would have to cease plotting with tea party colleagues to sabotage the presidency through legislative obstruction and inaction.

Ryan would have to place country before party and people above ideology, something he has not done in the past four years. His personal goal and top priority could no longer be unyielding opposition to any and all policies emanating from the White House.

Ryan would need to support stimulus legislation as he did during the Bush/Cheney presidency but has refused to do for Obama. He will have to refrain from threatening government shutdown over things such as Planned Parenthood or the debt ceiling. Never again can he put the cost of two wars on a credit card. The “new” Ryan can no longer deny help for victims of natural disasters.

Above all, Ryan must accept the reality that the United States has the largest income gap between rich and poor in the developed world. No longer can he demean the poor as takers who have chosen to become dependent on government because of a lack of desire or incentive to work. He must acknowledge that his “trickle down” economics have risen to the wealthy rather than trickled down to the middle class.